Dyer Island

Dyer Island is a 20ha Nature Reserve, situated 8.5 Km from Kleinbaai harbour in Gansbaai, Western Cape, South Africa. It is the easternmost, of the chain of seabird islands of the Western Cape. The island is recognised as an Important Bird Area (IBA), which gives Dyer Island the same status as an IBA anywhere else in the world. Thus, from a national bird conservation perspective, Dyer Island is one of the hundred most important sites in the country. Some of the birds breeding on the island besides the endangered African Penguins are the endangered Bank Cormorant and Roseate Tern. The island also holds 60% of the Cape Cormorant population. The colony of about 60,000 Cape Fur Seals on the adjacent Geyser Rock attracts one of the densest and most accessible populations of Great White Sharks in the world and is famous for its channel called Shark Alley. The Bay is also a vitally important breeding area for the endangered Southern Right Whale. The area is visited by various dolphin species (Bottlenose, Common and Humpback) and other whales species (Humpback and Bryde’s).

Dyer Island is managed by CapeNature. As a protected reserve, visitors are not allowed on the island. However, there are boat trips that visit the seals so the island and its feathered inhabitants can be viewed from sea.